Lost Art Press

Bootstrapping – End game

Posted on by fitz

The bench is finished.

bench

It’s not the prettiest bench around, but I think it will get the job done (and it only has to last until December, anyway).

The top is 6′ long and 21″ deep. I had planned for it to be 38″ high, of course, but somehow it ended up being 34″ instead. Not sure how that happened.

It is extremely solid (better than my bench at home in that regard). It has only four legs, but what legs it has! I’ll pit this bench with its four elephantine legs against any 8-legged (or even 11-legged) arachno-bench any day.

I had to plane out about 1/8″ of twist in the front apron (no, I don’t know how many thumbs that is), but other than that it’s reasonably flat and square.

I still have to make the “stick” that fits in the center slot to keep tools from plunging to their deaths, and I need to make a couple of other appliances, like a bench hook and shooting board. But other than those, I’m ready to start real woodworking.

That is, after my arms recover from boring all of those holes.

–Steve Schafer

20 thoughts on “Bootstrapping – End game”

  1. It is 1/8 th of a thumb of course. You may be very tall to need a bench that high. I am average height and 31″ is the ideal height for me. Actually perhaps a little too high.

    1. I’m 6’2″, with some lower back issues. I can’t bend over too far for too long without it becoming a problem.

    2. They’re just pine, of unknown pedigree. Whatever it is, it varies tremendously in density from one part of a board to another.

  3. Really nice-looking piece!

    Wondering if it matters for fatigue whether you have a short (6-8″) or longer (12″? 14″?) sweep brace, when you are boring so many holes.

    1. Mine is 10″. I’m sure that a longer sweep would have helped, but it’s still a fair bit of work regardless.

      1. Nah. I drilled half as many in my bench and used a 10″, 12″, and a 14″ just to see if one of them would be easier. They aren’t. I even had to get inside it and bore the opposite end of the holes, for which I used a 6″ due to having zero room under there for it. My arms had issues doing 16oz curls for a few hours after that, and my #12 auger bit actually needed touching up… after I let it cool.

        1. I can relate to the “let it cool” part. I accidentally touched the tip of my bit after finally getting through a particularly nasty knot. Not recommended.

  5. Wow. Reviving the old 38″ bench height joke and taking a shot at Chris’s funky Roman creation (or re-creation, depending on one’s interpretation of old images) all in one post! Well done… and the bench looks nice too.

  10. Huzzah Sir! an inspiring example of simple craftsmanship , and I believe you are good till December with this one. I give you 2 thumbs up. I look forward to you posts , keep it coming .

    1. This is more or less a “Nicholson” bench. You can read more about Nicholson benches in Chris’s Workbenches book (http://www.shopwoodworking.com/workbenches-revised-edition-from-design-theory-to-construction-use).

      The specific variant that I built is based on Mike Siemsen’s design, as outlined in The Naked Woodworker DVD (https://lostartpress.com/collections/dvds/products/the-naked-woodworker).

      I highly recommend both the book and the DVD (both are available in electronic form as well as physical). The advantages of the Nicholson style are that it doesn’t use very much wood, so it’s relatively inexpensive, and it’s fairly easy to build, even if you don’t already have a bench to build it on.

  12. Steve, very nice work. One question: I’ve seen your bench brush used by several people including Tom Fidgen, and wonder if you have a source for it. TIA.

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